Irfan’s Corner on the Web On Mac, Linux, Grid, Virtualization and Software Technology

Craigslist coming to Pakistan

Well not exactly, but a craigslist inspired service is in development here in Pakistan. The website is called "YayCheez" a slang word used to denote an emotion where "you get what you wanted" (can be interpreted wrongly, I mean materially).

The site is still beta, and I would encourage people to start using it to iron out any bugs in the system. There are some e-shops available for the Pakistani market like ShopHive which sell new stuff but support only a limited number of cities, but this website is like a place where you could get new aswell as used stuff, and its extremely useful if you want to get some stuff (Ipod??) which is not available in large parts of the country.

Having had a cursory glance there are two things which I would request the developers to work on:

One is a rating system, where people could rate people with whom they had some transactions, this is to ensure that good sellers/buyers get recognition and future sellers/buyers can have increased trust in the person concerned. There are some real problem related to trust b/w buyers and sellers esp. in Pakistan. I was initially thinking of proposing an embedded video conference system embedded in the site, but that's impractical in Pakistan, where most users are behind dialup connections. However I'm also not comfortable with actually meeting someone and performing a transaction right there. In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, for example street crime is very common, how can I be sure that the buyer who is meeting me is not someone who would rob me at gunpoint? In the US you have atleast the police/legal system to fall back on, but neither is the case in Pakistan. But I'm confident that the people behind the website are innovative and will think of something to handle this. Maybe the readers can propose something?

Another thing which I would recommend the developers to improve upon is the interface! It's a web 1.0 website, which is hard to navigate and in my first try, I didnt even know how to post something. Amongst other things I would recommend the developers to use CAPTCHA in the signup forms, otherwise the system would be really vulnerable to spam.